Sharing Loving Thoughts

“Every loving thought held in any part of the Sonship belongs to every part. It is shared because it is loving.” — A Course in Miracles.

 Traditional Quaker public worship consists of sitting in silence. If moved to speak one speaks briefly to all present. To me, this is the sharing of Love spoken of in A Course in Miracles. I’m also reminded that, “To everything there is a time and a season.” For some loving thoughts tt may not the right time to share in Quaker worship.

Last Sunday, as I sat in worship, some thoughts about faith and practice came to me, but I did not have a signal from my Higher Self that I should speak. Then I remembered something that had happened the previous weekend at Powell House, a Quaker retreat center. I was talking to Heidi, an old friend from the Albany area, and Noah, a high-school senior that I’d met at other Quaker programs. My friend’s four-year old son rushed up and hugged her knees, saying “Mommy.” Then he hugged the student’s knees, saying “Noah.” He went back and forth, saying “Mommy, Noah, Mommy, Noah.”

I asked my Higher Self if I should tell this story and immediately get a “yes” signal. As I stood up and spoke, I found the words came effortlessly. I ended by saying that this child was showing us how we are a family. I sat down. and a feeling of joy came over me. I had shared a loving thought.>

You may not choose or be led to participate in Quaker worship. But for everyone, there are times when it is appropriate to tell someone about our loving thoughts. We should not hesitate in doing this, as we strengthen our own ability to love by this action.

Contemplating Scripture

Recently, I have begun to meditate by taking a phrase from Hebrew scripture, Christian scripture, or the scripture of one of the other world religions. I sit naked in my cabin contemplating the phrase and watching the thoughts that come to me. Often, at the end of my meditation, I write some of these thoughts in my journal.

One morning in meditation, the words of Mary as recored in the Gospel of Luke came to me: “My soul doth magnify the Lord,”. This was immediately followed by a number of questions:

• Does my soul truly “magnify the Lord”?
• What does it mean to “magnify the Lord”?
• How great must my soul be if it can “magnify the Lord”?

I sensed the wonder of life – for it was in experiencing the life of Jesus inside her – the life of a child yet to be born, that Mary uttered these words. How blessed a woman is to be able to feel unborn life!

My thoughts formed into a prayer. “Lord, let my soul truly magnify you.” When I pray this prayer, I hear an answer: “When your soul dwells in simplicity, when it radiates peace, when it commits to integrity, when it unites in community, when it finds equality, and when it knows the gratitude of being able to live a life of service – then your soul truly magnifies to Lord.”*

The colors of God’s light flowing through each of us create not a cacophony, but a magnificent rainbow. God’s light flows through you in a unique way, and if you do not let that light through, it will be forever lost to the world.

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*Simplicity, peace, integrity, community, equality, and service are often sited as Quaker values, and are remembered with the acronym “SPICES.”

The Real Gift of Christmas

I attended two Christmas Eve services this year. The first was at the small Quaker meetinghouse in the town of Easton. They had carols, readings of the Christmas story from the Bible, and a time of silence. The second was a Mass at Easton Mountain led by Bishop Michael Kelly.

To me the message of Christmas is found in the words of a carol:

How silently, how silently, the wondrous Gift is giv’n;
So God imparts to human hearts the blessings of His Heav’n.

Modern scholarship can shoot holes in the Christmas story. The census (Luke 2:1) could never have taken place. It’s doubtful that Jesus was born in Bethlehem. This scholarship saves us from Fundamentalism, but doesn’t detract from the essential message: that there is something of God-consciousness, Christ-consciousness, Buddha-consciousness in every human heart.

In this blog I’ve described one way of exploring this consciousness – a path of erotic spirituality – and I’ll be exploring this further in a tele-seminar on January 16th. This tele-seminar, this blog, and all of what I do at Easton Mountain, is an invitation for you to join me in exploring this consciousness.

I don’t know what this consciousness is, but I do know where it leads – and that is described in the words of Howard Thurman, spoken at Easton’s Quaker service.

When the song of angels is stilled,
When the star in the sky is gone,
When the kings and princes are home,
When the shepherds are back with their flock,
The work of Christmas begins:

to find the lost,
to heal the broken,
to feed the hungry,
to release the prisoner,
to rebuild the nations,
to bring peace among the brothers [and sisters],
to make music in the heart.